Worth the Pain
by Jean-theGuardian
Summary: Jericho left for RAW as a spy for Stephanie. But will the distance and peril doom their blossoming romance? Spoilers for 9/12 and 9/19 Smackdown! show..and Unforgiven. Steph/Jericho, Hunter/??, Edge, Trish, Taker, Benoit, Jamal and Rosie, Team Xtreme..and
1. Default Chapter

Worth the Pain By guardianshaven2001  
  
Disclaimer: I own no body, homes. Try to sue me and I'll get Eddie Guerrero to come to your house and force you to wear his mullet. OK, Essay?  
  
Summary: Stephanie/ Chris Jericho. The Bischoff/Stephanie ratings war forces Stephanie to put Chris behind enemy lines. But will her decision destroy her relationship with Y2J? And how long can Jericho keep his secret safe before Bischoff finds out about his allegiance to Stephanie and destroys them both?  
  
Spoilers: Takes place on the September 12, 2002 Smackdown, where Eric, Jamal and Rosie layed out Stephanie at Billy and Chuck's fake wedding.  
  
Smackdown 9/12/2002 BACKSTAGE-STEPHANIE McMAHON'S OFFICE  
  
Chris stared in shock and anger as he stared at the screen. How did this happen? How could this have possibly happened? Watching Stephanie getting manhandled that way by anyone, let alone Eric Bischoff and his ass-clown Fat Boy-clones Jamal and Rosie was more than he could stand.  
  
Thank God that Edge, Rey Mysterio, John Cena and the other superstars came out there when they did. Or who knows how much damage might have been done to his poor Stephanie? Taking the Samoan Drop from Jamal must have been bad enough, but if the fat bastard had actually splashed her?  
  
Part of him wanted to rush out there and help Stephanie, cradle her in his arms and take her to a hospital for treatment. He just wanted to make sure that his love, his best friend in the whole world was okay.  
  
And another part of him wanted to run out of the building, find "Bitch"off and his goons, Jamal, Rosie and that flamer with the sideburns, Rico, and rip them apart for doing this to her, attacking her on her own damn show, which they had no right to be on in the first place, and nearly crippling her with that awful assault.  
  
But all of him knew that he couldn't do a damn thing. Not from here, anyway. If anyone saw him, a RAW superstar in a WWE SMACKDOWN arena, that news would go trickling all the way back to Bischoff's ears. And then the jig would be up for sure.  
  
No, no, he thought to himself. I've got to wait. I've got to wait for..  
  
No sooner had he thought that did the doorknob start to turn. Chris instinctively leaped behind the curtain of Stephanie's office, hoping that he'd go unnoticed.  
  
He heard the door open, and the sound of heels clip-clopping around the office. Possibly a woman, Chris thought. Don't let yourself get noticed, Jericho. Just stand here, don't move, don't even breathe...  
  
The curtain suddenly swung open, and Jericho came face to face with a wide- eyed Dawn Marie Rinaldi, wearing a light-blue halter top and black mini- skirt.  
  
Jericho winced. His cover had been blown, and he knew it.  
  
Now he had to start talking, and quick.  
  
"THERE you are!", Dawn Marie exclaimed. "Thank goodness, I thought you might have left."  
  
Jericho's eyes widened. "Um, ex-cuse me?"  
  
Dawn waived her hand dismissively. "No need to worry, Chris. I know everything. Ms. McMahon told me everything that was going on, and I rushed back here to make sure you were ready to go."  
  
"Woah,woahwoah, wait a second!", Jericho stopped the pretty brunette. "Go where? I'm not--"  
  
"You want to see if she's okay, don't you?", Dawn asked.  
  
A little stunned at what she was asking him, Jericho uneasily replied, "Well y-yeah, but...wait a second! How did YOU know that I--"  
  
"No time to explain", Dawn added quietly, as she took the large Canadian by the hand. "We have to leave right now before anyone sees us. There's a faster route to the hospital if we take my car, but we have to hurry. Come on! Are you in or out?"  
  
Completely at a loss for words, and totally unsure of what he was about to do, Chris only nodded dumbly as he took Dawn's hand and followed her.  
  
As Dawn led him hurriedly through a backstage tunnel that led to the parking lot of the arena, Chris felt himself more than a little vulnerable. Here he was, trusting a woman he hardly knew to lead him safely out of the arena and quickly to the hospital where his Stephanie was being held, without giving away his secret.  
  
Finally, the two had made it to Dawn's car, a flashy red convertible. Dawn quickly jumped into the driver's seat, unlocking the passenger's door so Chris could hop in quickly.  
  
"Buckle up", she said simply as she started the ignition.  
  
"Huh?", a confused Chris responded.  
  
Without warning, the engine roared to life and before Jericho knew it, the car was suddenly moving so fast that he slammed backwards into his seat as the vehicle raced out of the arena.  
  
"JEEZ!", he cried out. "Who taught you how to drive, Jeff GORDON?!"  
  
Dawn Marie chuckled. "Not quite, but I used to do this a lot back in my high school days."  
  
Stunned, Jericho gained as much control as he could over his body and tried to re-seat himself in the seat.  
  
"How much longer till we get to the hospital?", Jericho asked.  
  
"Should be another 15 minutes from now", Dawn answered, checking the car's digital clock. She turned to Chris, A tad of curiosity crossing her face. "So, tell me, how did this all come about?"  
  
Jericho turned to her, more confused than before. "How did what come about?"  
  
"You know what I mean", Dawn answered back.  
  
Jericho was still uncertain about her. "Uh..heh, I don't think I do, Dawn."  
  
Rolling her eyes, the pretty Italian secretary responded, "Oh, come on. You know. You working for Smackdown behind Eric Bischoff's back? The whole espionage routine you've been doing?"  
  
Before a stunned Jericho could even respond, Dawn continued. "I already TOLD you that I know about it. Ms. McMahon told me everything in the event of an emergency. Since this would be that emergency, I'd kinda like to know how it was that you even decided to join RAW in the FIRST place."  
  
Deciding that it was useless to lie to her, Jericho sighed as he sunk back into his seat. "Believe me, honey, the idea wasn't mine to begin with...", he began. 


	2. Part 1 TheProposition

= = = = = = = = = = Flashback Smackdown July 25th, 2002 One week after Vengeance = = = = = = = = = =  
  
"Hey. sweet thing", Jericho smiled as he walked into Stephanie's office. Stephanie quickly put her paperwork down and stood up, her eyes brightening at the sight of her boyfriend.  
  
"CHRIS!", she exclaimed, as she leaped right into his arms. They exchanged a soft kiss before breaking apart.  
  
"Missed you last night", Jericho said softly, his hands roaming down her back. She was wearing one of her black business power suits with the white shirt underneath, which he always found sexy.  
  
"I know", Stephanie sighed, her arms still around his neck. "I had to take care of some unfinished paperwork, plus review the footage from Bischoff's RAW show."  
  
Jericho's eyes darkened at the mention of his old WCW boss's name. "Yeah, how is that jackass? Floundering towards failure again, I hope?"  
  
Stephanie sighed, breaking off their hug. "Actually, no. I just received word a while ago that he's going to steal some of my roster talent tonight. He's going to want to retaliate soon for me stealing Brock Lesnar from RAW right in front of him last Monday night."  
  
Jericho chuckled. "Yeah, that was kinda funny. Did you see him screaming at you 'I'll KNOCK YOU OUT! I WILL KNOCK YOU OUT!'? God, the last time I saw a shade of red like that, Kane was still wrestling."  
  
Stephanie smiled at the thought. "Yeah, but this is serious. Chris, I want to beat this creep at his own game. I HAVE to. If I don't, it'll be a matter of time before he takes over this company and drives my family out of this business."  
  
Chris nodded. "People talk about the nWo being poison? Bischoff's worse than poison. He's like cyanide mixed with acid! But I don't think you can beat him at his own game, though."  
  
Stephanie looked at him, surprised by his comments. "Gee, thanks a lot, Chris. Some supportive boyfriend YOU are..."  
  
"What I meant", Chris explained. "Is that you're not like Bischoff. He's a slimeball and a total piece of garbage. You're different. You actually care about this business. You see that your wrestlers are real people, not chess pieces or property that belong to you." He took his girlfriend's hand. "Hey, listen.Pretty soon, Eric Bischoff's cheap tricks are gonna wear thin. They always do. Just like in WCW. All the other guys will realize that, and they'll be knocking on your door, BEGGING to come and join Stephanie McMahon's Smackdown brand."  
  
Stephanie lowered her eyes. "He's already got Triple H."  
  
"Because YOU asked him and Shawn to join RAW, remember?", Chris said gently. "You wanted someone there to give Eric a hard time, and you did it. Those two are the biggest pains in the ass NOT named Chris Jericho in this business."  
  
"But maybe we could have used Hunter and Shawn on Smackdown instead", Stephanie sighed. "And besides, what if they can't throw Bischoff like I wanted them to? What if losing Triple H weakens my card?"  
  
"We can live without Triple H", he assured her. "Yeah, losing him to RAW hurt, but we can make due without him. We've still got the Rock, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Edge, Brock Lesnar and as much as I hate to admit it, Kurt Angle...and oh, yeah. Yours truly, Y2J. Plus, isn't Rey Mysterio coming tonight? We'll make due just fine.Better than fine. We've got the upper hand now."  
  
"Still", Stephanie pressed, looking pensative. "It's not enough. I need someone who can actually break into his operation. Someone who has his ear, someone he can share his secrets with...someone he trusts."  
  
"OH, you mean a mole?", Chris asked. "Very clever. Got anyone in mind?",  
  
Stephanie grinned slightly, averting her eyes from him. "Actually, yeah...but you're not going to like it."  
  
Jericho frowned slightly. "Who?"  
  
Stephanie looked back at him, giving him a pointed look.  
  
Chris's eyes widened in horror and his mouth formed a small 'o' as he realized what Stephanie had in mind. "Oh...I....He...NO! No way! Absolutely not! I refuse--"  
  
"Oh, come on, Chris", Stephanie said in her most appeasing voice. "You said you wanted to help, right? Well, this is your big chance!"  
  
"I meant to do it by entertaining more, wrestling harder, all that stuff!", Jericho said.  
  
"But you'd be perfect for it", Stephanie insisted. "With your heel status and main-event star power, you'd have Bischoff eating out of your hand."  
  
"Stephanie, you know I love you, but I refuse to work for ERIC BISCHOFF!", Jericho protested. "That man held me down back in WCW. Every time I wanted higher profile matches, against guys like Hogan or Goldberg, he'd say, 'Kid, you're just not, eh, prime-time material', or 'You're too small to be a WCW World Champion'. Here's my chance to shove it up his ass for all those times he held me down, and you want me to jump to RAW so I can kiss his ASS?!"  
  
"I want you to go to RAW because YOU might be the only hope we have of finally taking Eric Bischoff out of wrestling forever!", Stephanie shot back. "You said that you love me, Chris. But if you really do, then you'll do this for me, because there's nothing more important for this company than getting Bischoff the hell out of it!"  
  
"That's not fair!", Jericho angrily said. "You can't use our relationship as leverage for me to do what you want me to do!"  
  
"You think this is easy for me to ask you?", Stephanie said, her eyes intense. "Do you know how long I've been thinking about this? Trying to reason with myself? Try hard NOT to lose you? Find another guy to do it? I can't! The Rock's too valuable to lose, Hogan and Bischoff despise each other, I just signed Edge and Brock Lesnar to exclusive contracts and Bischoff doesn't trust Triple H enough yet to start letting him in on his secrets!"  
  
"Oh, I get it, so I'm the expendable one, is that it?", Chris shot back."No one else wanted the job, so let's send good old Y2J to take one for the team, huh?"  
  
"Damn it, Chris, you are NOT expendable!", Stephanie screamed. "You mean more to me than you could possibly imagine! Not just as a superstar, but as someone I can trust, someone I can depend on...you really think I want to lose that?"  
  
"Then why me?"  
  
"Because there just isn't anyone else", Stephanie said softly, trying hard to not break down and cry. "God. I wish there was, but there just isn't anyone else.and if you don't help me, that means Bischoff wins. And we all lose."  
  
She broke off, turning her back to him. She didn't want to cry, she hated that. But she felt as if she had to use all her strength to keep her from doing just that. Besides, she knew that Chris hated to see her cry, and she didn't want to make him feel any more guilty than he had to.  
  
Jericho came behind her and turned her around. "Oh, baby, I'm sorry", he said tenderly as he cupped her face to his. "You know I can't stand to see you like that. Look, I..I know ho much beating this asshole means to you.it just.threw me for a loop, is all."  
  
Stephanie shook her head. "No, Chris. It was wrong of me to ask you this. I know how you feel about Eric Bischoff.and it's okay if you don't want to do it. I won't be mad, I'll.just have to figure something else out-"  
  
"I'll do it", he said abruptly.  
  
Stephanie looked at him with wide blue eyes. "Wh-What?"  
  
Chris sighed. "I'll do it. I'll go to RAW. I'll even leave right now, if you want."  
  
At that, Stephanie looked like she was going to burst into tears again. "I- I don't know, Chris. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea-"  
  
"It's a perfect idea, and you know it", Jericho reasoned softly with her. "Even if I do hate his stinking guts, I'll swallow some pride, get chummy with that little prick if it means getting Smackdown as the Number 1 show on WWE programming."  
  
"You know exactly what I'm asking you to do?", Stephanie tentatively asked him.  
  
Jericho nodded.  
  
"And you know that it's going to involve you doing some things that you may not want to do?", she asked him again.  
  
Sighing, Jericho nodded. "I understand."  
  
Stephanie gave a small sigh of her own. "Okay, then.but before I give you the details I want to ask you.you do know that after tonight, we're not going to be seeing quite as much of each other as we'd like, right? We're talking strictly pay-per-views, weekend meets, emergency phone calls, that's it."  
  
Jericho sadly nodded. "Yeah.I know. But if you're willing to risk that much to put Bischoff down, then so am I."  
  
"Oh, Chris", she softly said as she pulled him into a deep embrace. She squeezed him for all he was worth, knowing that this would probably be one of the few occasions she'd be getting to do that. He knew it too, but tried to block that thought out. For if they realized that, then they'd probably have held on forever.  
  
Breaking apart, Stephanie gave another small sigh. "Okay.here's the plan."  
  
TO be CONTINUED. 


End file.
